The easiest way to make your own handmade soap is to get a kit with everything you need in it. It saves you having to mess about trying to work out what equipment you need, you can just dive straight in and start learning your new skill as soon as your kit arrives.
If you are completely new to soap making what you’ll need to know is that most soap making kits use the pour and melt method. Don’t worry if you aren’t sure what that means, I’ll briefly explain:
Traditionally, soap (soap made from scratch) is produced using the cold process, whereby, oils are combined with sodium hydroxide otherwise known as lye. This is called the saponification process.
To be honest, though, this process can be a little daunting for a beginner as it requires using harsh chemicals for which you will need adequate safety equipment as well as a well-ventilated room.
But don’t let me put you off. While the cold process method is something you will, no doubt, want to try at some point, when you are completely hooked and want to start your own soap empire, (and you will,) by far the easiest and safest way to make your own handmade soap is to use the melt and pour method.
With this method, the saponification process has already been done for you and the soap base is completely safe to handle.
It’s super easy to make beautiful artisan soap, anyone can do it, and it’s a fun activity for kids too.
And the best thing about craft kits is that you can add to them as you develop your skills. The possibilities are endless, you can use different soap bases, try new scents or colors, add flowers and seeds, embed toys, and so much more.
We’ll now take a look at the best kits out there to get you started.
Reviews of Our Top Picks for the The Best Soap Making Kit
| Editor’s Award | Brand | Read |
Our Top Pick * for the Best Soap Making Kit | Melt & Pour Soap Making Kits by Chelseas Great beginner kits with high-quality pure ingredients and lots of scents to choose from (see our review for a full list). These kits would also make lovely gifts. | Full Review |
Best Embed Soap Making Kit | Custom Melt and Pour Glycerin Soap Gift Kit by Glory Creek A great kit to get the kids involved, with high-quality ingredients. | Full review |
Best for Making Colored Soaps | DIY Melt & Pour Shea Butter Soap Making Kit by CraftZee A complete kit with a pitcher and melting bowl included. Great for making pretty colored gift, or guest soaps. | Full Review |
Another Worthy Mention | Complete DIY Soap Making Kit by Nicole A nice option for making soap slices. It comes with a wave soap knife. And you can actually use this kit with the lye method if you want to. | Full Review |
Best Soap Sampler Kit for Business Start-Up | Saponify Melt and Pour Soap Base Sampler Kit The perfect kit if you’d like to make soaps to sell. This sampler kit is very affordable and the ideal way to get started. And make no mistake, this is a big kit. It contains 8 different 1lb bases and will make a total of 96 bars. | Full Review |
| Best Color Sampler Kit | Pifito DIY Hand Soap Making Supplies Kit Not currently in stock. But lots of other Pifito soap kits are available. | Full Review |
Also in this guide.
Our Top Pick * for the Best Soap Making Kit: Melt & Pour Soap Making Kits by Chelseas
Here are the reviews in full for each of our choices.
Our Top Pick * for the Best Soap Making Kit
These are perfect little kits to get you started. They have everything you need to make long-lasting, hard French Milled soap without having to deal with the chemical and extra milling process required for French-milled soap – it’s already done for you.
The kits are ideal for making guest soaps, handmade gift soaps, or, considering the whole kit is so easily affordable, the kit itself would make a lovely gift for someone.
To give you an example of what you get, the shea butter kit is made with vegan-based SLS, SLES, and paraben-free oils including olive oil, coconut, and palm oil, and the shea butter shredded soap base also contains coconut milk, which gives the soap an extra creamy soap with a good lather.
Included with the shea butter kit are jasmine fragrance oil, lemon essential oil, oatmeal botanicals, a silicon bar mold, and a pipette for measuring your fragrance oils.
The shea butter kit comes with 1lb of soap base – which makes about four, 4oz. bars of soap.
But Chelseas also do other kits too and some come with 2lbs of soap base which makes 8 to 12 bars.
Here are our more of our favorites:
The Hibiscus and Lavender Goat Milk kit comes with 2lbs of premium quality, goat’s milk glycerin, and lavender essential oil. It’s even better value than the shea butter kit – providing you with 2lbs of soap base.
- Black Vanilla Raspberry (2lbs)
- Tropical Flowers
- Geranium and Rose Shea Butter (2lbs)
- Oatmeal, Milk, and Honey (2lbs)
- Chamomile and Lavender Goat Milk (2lbs)
What We Like:
- High-Quality French Milled Soap Base | Milled for a hard, longer lasting soap.
- Comprehensive and Clear Instructions | The kit has very clear instructions Chelseas is a small US company and they have a nice website with helpful tips and recipes.
Buying Factors to Consider:
These are very affordable kits and would also make a great gift for someone. We should just mention that molds but may come with other shapes than shown – depending on availability.
Additional Items You May Needed:
You will just need a small spray bottle of rubbing alcohol. This is to disperse any bubbles on the surface of your trace (soap mixture). You will also need a large microwavable measuring cup and a wooden spoon.
Check the latest price and color options for the Hibiscus and Lavender Goat Milk Glycerin Soap Making Kit on Amazon.
Best Embed Soap Making Kit: Custom Melt and Pour Glycerin Soap Gift Kit by Glory Creek
Best Embed Soap Making Kit
Custom Melt and Pour Glycerin Soap Gift Kit by Glory Creek
It’s so easy to get into making embeds with this super-cute fun kit.
The Glory Creek is a step up from children’s soap kits but your kids will definitely want to join in.
The kit comes with 4 stars, 4 hearts, and 4 seashells. You also get squigglies and ribbons, so you can really get creative with your designs.
You get a generous 2 lbs of white and clear soap base. The kit also comes with 2 craft sticks for stirring, a silicone mini loaf pan, 8 gift bags, with jute ties and gift cards.
What We Like:
- Fun Kit with Lots of Embeds | This Glory Creek kit is a great way to practice your soap making techniques which will, in turn, inspire you to get creative and experiment with the craft.
- 2 lbs of White and Clear Quality Glycerin Soap Base | The embeds are made with natural pigment colors.
- Gift Bags and Tags Included | Great for making handmade soap gifts.
Additional Items You May Needed:
You will just need a small spray bottle containing rubbing alcohol to disperse any bubbles on the surface of your trace, a large microwavable measuring cup, and a wooden spoon.
Check the latest price for the Glory Creek kit on Amazon.
Best for Making Colored Soaps: DIY Melt & Pour Shea Butter Soap Making Kit by CraftZee
Another Worthy Mention
DIY Melt & Pour Shea Butter Soap Making Kit by CraftZee
This generous 2lbs shea butter based soap making kit comes complete with four liquid dyes and four fragrances making it ideal for making pretty scented gift soaps.
In the kit are two molds to make either, 4 standard shapes (square, oval round and rectangle), or 5 flower designs. The kit also contains a pouring pitcher, 2 stirring sticks, and a mixing bowl.
It even has four coordinating gift boxes to pack your colored soaps.
The kit will make around 12 bars of soap and comes with full instructions.
Additional Items You May Needed:
The only thing you will need to add with this comprehensive kit is a small spray bottle containing rubbing alcohol to disperse any bubbles on the surface of your trace.
Check the latest price for the DIY Melt & Pour Shea Butter Soap Making Kit by CraftZee on Amazon.
Another Worthy Mention: Complete DIY Soap Making Kit by Nicole
Another Worthy Mention
Complete DIY Soap Making Kit by Nicole
First let me just say this kit doesn’t come with any English instructions, – not really a problem as there are so many excellent youtube tutorials on how to make soap, and this kit does have everything you need to make soap with the melt and pour method so it’s an excellent choice.
UPDATE: The company have now included full photograph instructions, right there on their Amazon page.
This kit even goes one step further. If you want to make soap from scratch you can use the lye method with this kit too (it includes safety glasses, gloves, a ph test kit and thermometer and glass rod for stirring etc).
What we love about this kit is that it comes with a food-grade loaf soap mold, a wave knife, a soap knife (for a straight edge), and a wooden beveler for chamfering your edges, so you can make artisan soap slices.
Also included are 4 sizes of measuring cups, two pipettes, and a silicone scraper, and a stainless steel whisk for blending your essential oils, botanicals and minerals.
If you intend to make soap using the lye process you will need to invest in a stick blender, and of course, you will need lye, distilled water, and a spray bottle of rubbing alcohol (to remove bubbles from the surface of your trace).
The kit also contains a 500g soap base to get you started with the melt and pour method.
The soap base provided isn’t the best quality in our opinion. So If you go for this kit we recommend buying a good quality soap base.
Check the latest price for the Complete DIY Soap Making on Amazon.
Best Soap Sampler Kit for Business Start-Up: Saponify Melt and Pour Soap Base Sampler Kit
Best Soap Sampler Kit for Business Start-Up
Saponify Melt and Pour Soap Base Sampler Kit
If you’d like to make soaps to sell, this sampler kit is the ideal way to get started.
I know from the photo you might think the kit only gives you a small sample of each soap base but this is a big kit.
The kit consists of 8 different, 1lb soap bases allowing you to sample and try out different the different varieties including shea butter, avocado butter, coconut milk, olive oil, charcoal, and aloe.
The kit includes a leaf-shaped mold that will give you up to 12 guest-sized bars from each 1 lb block of soap base – that’s a total of 96 bars.
We love the scope this kit gives you to experiment and develop your soap making skills. You can keep things simple or create multi-layered combinations. You can add your own botanicals, like flowers and herbs or add skin safe fragrances, and colors up to 3%.
What We Like:
- Hard Soap Bases | The high-quality soap bases are formulated by a professional soap maker and member of the soap guild, giving you a long-lasting soap with an excellent lather.
Additional Items You May Needed:
You will need a small spray bottle containing rubbing alcohol for a bubble-free surface on your trace. You’ll also need a microwave-safe measuring cup, and a wooden spoon – and of course any botanicals or scent you want to add.
Check the latest price for the Saponify Melt and Pour Soap Base Sampler Kit on Amazon.
Best Color Sampler Kit: Pifito DIY Hand Soap Making Supplies Kit
Best Color Sampler Kit
Pifito DIY Hand Soap Making Supplies Kit
This is a great little starter kit, if you want experiment with color.
You get 8 mica color powders to try in blue, yellow, red, black, pink, violet, brown, and green.
The kit comes with 2 lbs of melt and pour soap bases (one shea butter and one goat’s milk). This kit doesn’t come with a mold but they are easy to get and there are tons to choose from.
The kit will give you about 8 bars of soap.
What We Like:
- High-Quality Soap Bases | The high-quality soap bases are made in the US and don’t contain any synthetics, chemicals, detergents, or lathering agents.
Check the latest price for the Pifito DIY Hand Soap Making Supplies Kit on Amazon.
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